Soapbox: About the Industry

Go Ahead, Hit Me!

by Sandy Antunes
Aug 06,2004

Go Ahead, Hit Me!

Sometimes you wanna wack someone with a sword. There's a whole game genre, 'boffer larp', about taking the heart of many RPGS -- combat -- and doing it live, for real. Well, rarely 'with steel' and 'to the death', but taking a foam sword and hacking the pudding out of another person can be a great way of saying "Let's Play".

But, of course, boffer larp is also a game design nightmare. The short analysis of current boffer larps is:

1. Most boffer combat is too rules- and number-heavy,
2. Most boffer combat isn't realistic nor a simulation, but an analogy of combat,
3. Game culture often makes it hard for newcomers,
4. Too many players adopt an "I'm skilled, you were just lucky" attitude,
5. Experience systems can make entrenched players game-killers,
6. You need gear,
7. But when done right, the physical immersion of boffer can be amazing.

Don't laugh at this, but actually hitting someone in many boffer larps is... too cerebral. I've only done under a dozen boffer systems (including writing/running one), but here's my comments.

I think combat and other game mechanics need to be as invisible and natural as possible. For example, if you're playing a plumber and have to fix a pipe, you could:

1. pick up tools and fix a pipe
2. play a computer game of 'Pipes'
3. roll dice
4. repair a TV and pretend it's a pipe

These appeal to me in the exact order above, best to worst. Obviously, 'a' is the most realistic, 'b' is a good simulation, 'c' is interruptive, and 'd' is analogous.

Similarly, I find boffer combat to be an analogy of combat, rather than realistic or simulated. There's too much numbers, thinking, and artificial rules. It ends up being more of a physical+cerebral sport, than 'fighting'.

(Note my background, epee, i.e. the only fencing branch that is basically rules-free, 'whomever hits first wins', largely because I had a hard time handling the excess rules of foil or sabre.)

Stephen Balzac touched on something similar with:
> That means that if someone drops their guard and leaves their face open,
> I'll hit before I've even consciously thought about it.

Adding lots of rules-- either number crunching in real time, or necessary US safety issues like 'no head shots', etc really makes it tough for me. Plus I'm bad at math, so boffer systems with built in math (i.e. hit points) are difficult.

Also, each boffer group has different policies on things like calibration (pulling blows), etc. So shifting to a new system means unlearning _reflexes_, which is a lot harder than learning new rules.

The SCA has a good combat system, because it's natural and encourages realistic things like head shots, and the few rules are also physically reasonable. It's not ideal, but the SCA is a good minimum standard to aim to.

Also, most groups (or dominant subgroups within the group) have a 'tude, and this really can turn away newcomers. This is an area many SCA chapters have in spades. In another boffer larp, I was slain because someone one broke rules (ignored blows, made up stuff) and, because I was new to the rules, I didn't know better. The attitude of the refs+others was, 'oh, he is like that'. So they failed the 'make the game accessible to newcomers' test.

Another problem with attitude is more endemic, it's the "I am skilled, you are lucky" attitude. In one boffer group, I had to undergo a condescending "lets test you out" where every blow that hit me was 'learn from this' and every blow I hit was 'lucky'.

In games with experience systems, newcomers are basically doomed-- not only are they unfamiliar with the nuances of the system, but they are greatly underpowered (MMORPG syndrome). So they can't enjoy things. (The corrolary: that even with longer play, you still aren't more powerful, has its own game problems, but that's beyond the scope of this screed). You walk in with your sword and find out every other person has magic armor, dual weapons, and enough hit points for God. Gee, fun.

Finally, you need good gear. A lot of boffer larps nail this one right by providing weapons, hooray!

Now, in a few events I've been in, they've gotten enough right that it was a blast. There weren't too many rules or numbers for us 'bad at math/poor memory' types to keep in our heads. They were encouraging to newcomers. The other players had a realistic and mature attitude about things. Gear was provided (a plus!) Experience was in the mechanics but close-scaled enough that it only provided an edge, not a game-killer against newcomers.

It can be done 'right', but it's really tough-- and there's no guaranteeing that what appeals to me, or another newcomer, is what appeals to everyone. Some groups live for the power-up scheme. Others like the complex systems. But if you want a newcomer-friendly system, there you have it.

In the end, boffer is a sport as well as a game. I guess the short version is, if I'm going to physically fight, I want to physically fight. I don't want to be doing numbers in my head while dancing to a specific rules set, or be faced with a local culture that isn't encouraging to the newcomer or diletante. I want the physical immersion of being in combat, and I want my success or failure to flow from the game and everyone's performance, not from external things like rules or cliques.

Funny thing about that last bit, it's what I want from life too (fairness and meritocracy), and I don't always get that. So take this all with a grain of salt.

Until next month,
Sandy
sandy@rpg.net
freelance